A tornado touched down on the Red Pheasant Cree Nation. (supplied/Precious Baptiste)

By Tyler Marr

TOUCH DOWN CONFIRMED

Probable tornado touch down in Red Pheasant Cree Nation: EnviroCan

Jul 19, 2019 | 12:13 PM

Environment Canada said a tornado likely touched down on the Red Pheasant Cree Nation Thursday evening as a severe thunderstorm moved through the area.

The agency’s weather summary said the probable tornado occurred around 4:45 p.m.

It is rated an EF0 with estimated wind speeds between 90 and 130 km/h. No damage was reported.

Precious Baptiste, 15, shared a brief video through her grandmother’s Facebook page shortly after she spotted the twister from the family’s back deck.

“I noticed the pieces of cloud coming down so I just started recording,” she said.

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The tornado, witnessed from a distance, swirled down to the ground before sucking back up into an above-ground funnel.

“I was really scared,” Baptiste said.

Baptiste’s grandmother Phyllis said the twister appeared to touch down in an area dominated by bush and open fields.

Strong wind gusts were reported across central Saskatchewan as a strong low pressure systems rolled through.

North Battleford recorded gusts up to 81 km/h. Saskatoon had gusts of 85 km/h, while Kindersley received wind gusts of 80 km/h.

Golf ball sized hail was reported in Radisson and a few kilometres northeast of Tuffnell. Quarter sized hail fell in Blaine Lake and north of Borden, areas where a tornado warning was issued Thursday afternoon.

Environment Canada meteorologist Dan Kulak said there has been a fair amount of stormy weather this summer despite a hot spell, as more than high temperatures factor into storms.

“It is a more complicated process of at looking at the atmosphere as a whole not just the heat aspect of it,” he said. “How cold is it aloft and sometimes in the summer you get these cooler temperatures and the showery conditions and you get lots of moisture in the air.”

— with files from CKOM

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tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr